Bill Donohue responds

Bill Donohue, of the Catholic League, has posted a response to my item below.He claims that Father Sirico never suggested John Galt, the hero of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" was a Christ-like figure. Maybe he should re-read Sirico's article, the whole point of which was to suggest that Rand had some subliminal need to paint Galt in Christ-like terms. Indeed, the title of Sirico's little essay "Who Really Was John Galt Anyway?" indicates that the burden of Sirico's essay is to prove that Galt was for Rand a Christ-like figure. (And such a burden!)In fact, I doubt Rand would have appreciated the comparison which is made by Sirico, not Rand. That is why I compared him to artist Andres Serrano.But, Donohue sticks by his friend Sirico, and there is something to be said for personal loyalty I suppose. He says I have an "obsession" with Sirico which is true only in the sense that I do tend to obsess with anyone who bastardizes the faith. Donohue accuses me of not getting my facts straight but it is Donohue who is failing to grasp the whole point of Sirico's essay. And, incidentally, I did not say I had a "nasty" thought but a "naughty" one which might of tipped of Donohue to the fact that my comparison of Sirico and Serrano was more than a little tongue in cheek. Alas, humor is lost on Donohue. As Father Gillis once remarked, "Whom the gods would make bigots, they first deprive of humor."

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